HPresponse regardingGlobal Witness statement on Dodd Frank 1502
22 May 2012
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invitedHPto respond to the following item:
-“Are electronics companies trying to have it both ways on conflict minerals legislation?”, Global Witness, May 2012
In response,HPsent the following statement:
HP’s response to the May 2012 Global Witness comment letter regarding conflict minerals.
We request that HP’s leadership in conflict minerals be judged on our individual company actions and the leadership role we have taken in the collaborative efforts of the Multi-Stakeholder Group and the EICC-GeSI Extractives work group. As noted in Global Witness’s letter, HP has been a vocal advocate for the conflict minerals provision of the Dodd-Frank Act and worked to develop the consensus recommendations and signed the resulting Multi-Stakeholder Group letters to the Security and Exchange Commission over the past 18 months.
Summarized in this response below are examples of HP’s leadership in conducting its own due diligence; our collaboration with industry to develop programs, processes, and tools to enable responsible sourcing of minerals; and our participation in programs that are advancing responsible sourcing in the Great Lakes Region.
Company Due Diligence
HP requires its suppliers to conduct their worldwide operations in a manner that respects labor and human rights, including sourcing minerals that do not directly or indirectly finance armed groups (See HP’s Code of Conduct). HP has amended its Supplier Social and Environmental Responsibility Policy to include conflict-free minerals and has modified our General Specification for the Environment to address expectations for our suppliers.
HP worked to conduct due diligence on its suppliers in advance of the final U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulation implementing the conflict minerals provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. We then followed up in August 2011 with a formal communication requiring suppliers to provide information about the smelters they use, and requesting that they adopt a DRC conflict free policy and set the same requirements for their suppliers. HP’s suppliers have provided the names of several hundred possible smelters and refiners. We are working with those companies to confirm which are smelters and will encourage those not already involved in CFS to participate in the program.
Industry Collaboration
HP has been one of five company representatives on the Audit Review Committee of the CFS program since it began. The Committee’s role is to identify and validate smelters that process only conflict free minerals. CFS auditors have visited and reviewed over forty smelters to conduct audits according to CFS-developed protocols for tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold – audit protocols shared with all industry sectors. To date, eleven tantalum smelters have been validated as conflict free through this process. The participation of twenty-two gold, five tungsten, and forty-five tin smelters is under way.
HP is contributing $50k towards a new, independent fund to promote early participation of smelters and refiners in the Conflict Free Smelter (CFS) program which validates conflict free sources of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold. This fund fund is being called the CFS Early-Adopters Fund and will be managed by Resolve.
HP has developed and propagated to the industry a common approach to conducting due diligence. We were a co-developer of the EICC-GeSI reporting template used to share due diligence information between suppliers and customers. We also co-facilitated the implementation of the dashboard tool that supports this reporting template, facilitating and standardizing data collection and reporting.
In addition, HP helped to teach hundreds of industry members how to use the template and dashboard to advance this standardized approach, leading to improved accuracy of information and less administrative duplication.
Supporting In-Region Programs
HP plays a leading role in international efforts focused on achieving practical solutions to the issue of conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The problems in DRC are complex and intractable, but HP has determined that its leadership and resources, working in collaboration with others, can develop pilot supply chains through which minerals can be mined free from the influence of armed groups. We believe that advancing multi-stakeholder initiatives will encourage others to join us in building a lasting solution. We have engaged widely, working in partnership with others committed to achieving conflict- free trade with the DRC, including industry peers and trade organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and governments.
HP recognized the risk of the de-facto embargo because establishing a validated supply of minerals from the Great Lakes Region to smelters poses significant challenges. Given that there is no visible difference between minerals from different mines, there is a need for secure traceability from mine to smelter to avoid misrepresentation of conflict minerals as conflict free. The Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA) was founded to help establish a system of traceability in supply chains where there is a risk of involvement with conflict. Notably, HP was the first corporation to commit to joining the PPA and an HP representative was elected to its Governance Committee.
To further support the development of conflict free supply chains in the DRC, HP joined the Solutions for Hope project in 2011. The Solutions for Hope Project’s unique approach to mineral sourcing in the region utilizes a closed-pipe supply line and a defined set of key suppliers – mines (including artisanal cooperatives), smelter/processor, component manufacturer and end user – identified in advance of initiating the project.
In February 2012, HP was one of two companies with representatives who traveled to the DRC to meet with stakeholders, visit mines, and assess the situation on the ground to inform HP’s PPA governance role. During this trip, HP representatives participated in a series of separate meetings with other PPA members and the Provincial Minister of Mines of Katanga, Maniema, South Kivu, and North Kivu, as well as the local civil society in Katanga, South Kivu, and North Kivu. In addition, HP representatives visited tantalite and cassiterite mines in Katanga; gold and cassiterite mines in South Kivu; and wolfram and cassiterite mines in Rwanda. Finally, HP and other PPA representatives met with the MONUSCO Head of Operations in Bukavu to understand the current situation with armed militias in the Kivu Provinces.